Kane County may need $300,000 consultant to help spend $12.6 million

It may cost Kane County taxpayers as much as $300,000 to find out how to best implement a technology upgrade for the local court system that may cost $12.6 million.

County officials fulfilled a lingering element of the settlement between the county board and Circuit Court Clerk Deb Seyller Thursday. The settlement required the county to create a standing committee that will advise the judicial and public safety systems on all current and future technology upgrades.

Individual elected officials in that system, such as the circuit court clerk, sheriff and state’s attorney, will still have the final say on the technology used in their offices.

Former Chief Judge F. Keith Brown will lead the committee. Fellow committee members said they wanted a chairman who is directly accountable to the voters. Brown is still a local judge, elected by the taxpayers. He’s been involved with the technology upgrade discussion since the beginning about 18 months ago. However, Brown’s committee is not yet fully formed.

Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay announced Thursday she is still seeking applications for an at-large member of the public with some technology know-how to join the team.

One of the first tasks for the committee will be hiring a consultant to draft a request for proposals. County officials received proposals by five different firms looking to become the consulting team that will help the county buy the new computer system for the courts.

Officials believe a new system is needed to stop wasting money and to make the courts run smoothly.

The consulting companies in the running are:

Ÿ IMERGE Consulting

Ÿ URL Integration

Ÿ National Center for State Courts

Ÿ GOVtech

Ÿ MTG Management Consultants

Of those, only GOVtech is a local company, based out of Marengo.

The scope of services offered by the companies vary greatly, as do the cost of their services. Bids came in with a low of $60,000 and a high of $300,000. The county board budgeted $90,000 for the consultant, but committee members said all five companies are in the running. A subcommittee will review all the proposals, interview the teams and narrow the contenders down to two finalists by the end of February. The full technology committee wants to select a consultant for the county board to approve in early March.